Steel Cut Oats and Scones

So I've been wanting to try some different kinds of oatmeal. I bought a small container of the steel cut oats and was totally surprised at what they look like. I've only ever bought the instant oatmeal. 

So of course I started making this when I was already starving; not realizing that it would take at lest half an hour. Turns out it took more like 45 minutes because I didn't want to scorch the milk. 

It tasted great - chewy with a nutty flavor. Bit too much milk so it ended up more like oatmeal cereal

Added a banana and some local honey. Steel cut oats are the way to go. Just have to make sure to plan ahead.

 

Light and Tender Cream Scones - well that's what the recipe called them. For me they were more like sweet heavy biscuits. Still good, just not what I was going for.

All doctored up with a bit of butter and honey.

Papaya

Papaya - pretty much the only new tropical fruit I like. I've tried a lot of new fruit but most of it tastes too florally. I'm only allowed to buy these every so often because I have a bad habit of letting them go bad. Same goes with Pineapple. But with Paul being away, I get to eat what I want! So far I've only let a couple of apple bananas go black, but the plan is to use them in some bread. So technically I haven't wasted any yet.

I've been playing around with my camera in manual mode to see if I can take some better pictures. I think these turned out nice compared to the ones I took in auto mode.

December in Hawaii

Living in Hawaii has given me plenty of new experiences. For example, I put the Christmas tree up and had the windows open because it was such a beautiful day. As a matter of a fact, I have the windows open again today. It feels perfect. Here is the tree minus the presents (presents take extra long to get here from the mainland).

Can you guess which stocking is Paul's?

As you may have noticed we have decided to skip the traditional candy canes this year since the girls won't be here to celebrate with us. Who really eats those things anyway? Not me, and definitely not Paul. Besides, I think all the antler ornaments make it look way cooler.

Hopefully, if I'm really lucky, I'll be able to retire this tree and score a new one at an after Christmas Sale. This one has see better years, but I think I paid $100 for it back in 2002 so I think I got my money's worth.